Poulenc on DVD

















I have a homosexual love and hate relationship with Francis Poulenc*. Well not hate. You can't hate Francis Poulenc's music unless you are, well, let's say Pierre Boulez or Theodore Adorno. But Boulez and Adorno are the kind of people that hate small animals and children too. "They are not powerful enough" Boulez might say. Adorno might criticize their lack of progressive aesthetic values...
"DORA THE EXPLORER!? Das ist NICHTEN KUNST! NICHTEN KUNST!"

or

"Liebe DAS CHEW TOY nachter AUSCHWITZ!???"**

....to which the child might cry and run to his or her mommy and the dog won't give a second thought.

Poulenc is light as a breeze but never vapid. Sure his music ain't Beethoven, or even Milhaud, but it's pretty damn melodic and smart. Les Mamelles de Tirésias I will defend till I die, or at least into a vegetative state, as it's hard to defend surreal French comic opera bouffes from the 1940s when all you can do it urinate and drool. Sure after a while the four square rhythms and bar one meet the first half of the melody, bar two say goodbye to the last half of the melody patterning is tiring. The piano and ballet music is generally solid and enjoyable. The songs are generally great. The religious music is pretty if a tad limp (Ask your girlfriend: she'll tell ya! AY00000000!).

Martin Cooper's oft-quoted Poulenc appraisal I think does the composer fine, Texas-y justice:

A musical clown of the first order, a brilliant musical mimic and an adroit craftsman who pieces together the most heterogeneous collection of musical styles to form an unmistakably personal style of his own.

I was very excited then to see le clown's elongated and rough visage on a cover of a new EMI Classic Archive DVD:



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Alas, it is not available yet in the states but I made sure to order it cheaply from Canada, along with some Diabetes medication for my grandmother. It seems to be a great quality collection and a very good dvd at that:

Flute Sonata (Jean-Pierre Rampal, Francis Poulenc)

La Voix Humaine (Denise Duval)

Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Denise Duval)

La Courte Paille (excerpts) (Denise Duval, Francis Poulenc) 26/02/61 Paris

Concerto for two pianos and orchestra 01/12/62 RTF, Paris

(Francis Poulenc, Jacques Février, Orchestre National de la RTF/Georges Prêtre)

Serenade (Maurice Gendron, Christian Ivaldi) 19/02/63 Paris

Flute Sonata (Jean-Pierre Rampal, Robert Veyron-Lacroix) 16/04/63, Paris

Pastourelle, Toccata (Gabriel Tacchino) 27/08/63 Paris

Trois Mouvements perpetuels (Jacques Février) 27/06/54 Paris

Excerpts:

Banalités, Chansons villageoises, Chansons gaillardes 27/06/54 Paris

(Gabriel Bacquier, Jacques Février)

Concerto for organ, strings and timpani 23/03/68 ORTF, Paris

(Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, Orchestre Philharmonique de l’ORTF, Georges Prêtre)

Total Time: 115.15

Seems like a gay old time.****





*Francis Poulenc was homosexual. Being an open minded bleeding heart liberal secular humanist doesn't mean I can't make the stray gay joke.

**I cannot speak German. Thus these jokes might not totally work. Such are the trials I endure for my art.

***I never, unlike many blogs, credit where I get the pictures or quotes from as I write enough essays with bibliographies at school. Also: A) No one reads this site. B) There are many things I care about and crediting some crappy picture or quote is not one of them.

****Another gay joke.